Visiting Seattle – Day 1 – Pikes Place and Coffee, Coffee, Coffee!

Last month I had the amazing opportunity to take a little trip with my mom to Seattle, Washington. Its kind of always been a bucket list item of mine and so for my thirty-fifth birthday I went. It was such a crazy time in my schedule that I barely had any time to really prepare or pack so we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants. But we were ready for the adventure. In my next couple of posts I’ll be sharing all about my trip, sharing with you the places we went and what YOU shouldn’t miss if you make a trip there. An important thing that I noticed, for all my military readers, was how many places offered a military discount! It was pretty cool! All the attractions we visited offered it. Public parking was also a dream there. I used my parking panda app and was good to go. UBer and Lyft are popular and easily accessible, and drivers are some of the nicest I have ever seen! I don’t think I heard a horn once, even while driving in the city.

First stop was Pike’s Place and to eat at the Althenian Seafood Bar and Grill (of Sleepless in the Seattle fame). This is the restaurant that Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner eat at when he asks him how his butt is. LOL! The Pike’s Place Market itself is a really cool place to go. Flower vendors as far as the eye can see. The flower were absolutely gorgeous and I was so sad that we were not staying in town long enough to have them.

The view was amazing and the food was stellar! Best clam chowder I’ve had outside of Monterey. Plus being here with my mommy, who I used to watch Sleepless with over and over with, was icing on the cake.

We of course visited the first Starbucks! While not in its original location (only a few doors down), its a tiny little shop that runs like a well oiled machine. The line moved really quickly and they have it well organized. All the cups and items to purchase are behind the counter. You point to the cup you want on a laminated sheet and they give it to you all boxed up. The greeter was so sweet and adorable..plus he had a British accent, so that’s fun. If you are able to go during the week, I would suggest it, weekend lines can be crazy. But for coffee cup collectors like myself its a must see site! This location is also the only one with the naked sea witch/mermaid!

We hit up several Starbucks locations in Seattle. In the city there is a crazy amount of them, like over 200 just in the city part of Seattle. I had a whole list of Starbucks I wanted to try to see, and while we only made it to two of the ones on my list I was going to make sure we checked out the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. This place is crazy!

This is just a portion of the 15,000 sq feet of coffee heaven. Its incredible and takes up a whole city block. But don’t think you’re going there to order your non-fat, vanilla latte with extra foam. You can sample specialty brewed coffee that you can only purchase at that location. They have a special dark hot chocolate too, and i’m kicking myself from getting so full I couldn’t taste it. The food here is amazing, cooked in these really neat little ovens. You can also get alcohol here. It was a really neat experience you can only have in Seattle.

If you want to see the list of must-see Starbucks locations (including all the ones I couldn’t get to) visit the Starbucks Melody blog.

My favorite Starbucks, and the best we had on our trip, was at the Seattle Armory which is located in the Seattle Center near the MoPOP museum. It is on the grounds of this amazing collection of art sculptures, playgrounds, and art exhibits. Its a really incredible venue and we wish that we had had more time to experience.